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capital to help you meet your growth objectives. we offer expertise and tailored solutions for small businesses and major corporations. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news. >> russia's orphans pay the price for a dispute between russia and americans. the gang rape that sparked outrage in india as the victims conditions deteriorate, the politicians look to restore order and offer support. how just 15 cigarettes in a lifetime can lead to cancer. welcome to "bbc world news." coming up, a little girl abducted by her father and taken to pakistan three years ago is now heading back to britain.

also, the era of the third age on the silver screen. >> hello, thanks for being with us. russian president putin has signed a bill which bans americans from adopting russian children. the controversial move is said to be part of russia's retaliation against an american law that puts sanctions on officials suspected of human rights violations. some senior government officials in moscow have spoken out against that law, but supporters argue the ban's necessary, because some adopted children have faced abuse by american families. joining me from moscow now is steve rosenberg. steve, you said he'd do it, he's done it. >> that's right, david. there's been one question that

has dominated political life in moscow the last few days and that is will he or won't he? will president putin sign what is one of the most controversial laws he's been face with. yesterday he indicated he probably would and today he signed it. as you mentioned it has been very controversial because a number of ministers in his own government, including the russian foreign minister have publicly criticized the law and president putin's critics have accused him of playing politics with russian children. >> criticized it on humanitarian grounds. >> yes, absolutely. it's interesting to note that the bill we're talking about, the law we're talking about is wider than simply banning adoptions. it's russia's retaliation for the act that bans russians officials suspected of human rights violations from getting u.s. visa's and freezes their

assets. so this bans u.s. officials from coming to russia, u.s. officials who have committed abuses and crimes against russian citizens. it shuts down n.g.o.'s in russia, and most controversially it makes it illegal for american families to adopt russian children. the argument is here, in terms of adoptions that russia has been concerned for sometime, that russian children who have been adopted in the u.s. have faced abuse, have not been treated well. but, critics of the kremlin would point out that there are many children here in russia who are treated horriblely too, and it's simply not right to bring in a total ban of russian orphans by u.s. families. >> ok, well steve we wait to see the impact of that. thanks very much. and indian paramedic student

fights for her life. her doctors say he suffered brain injuries after she was gang raped. that's a common enough experience in india, but this particularly brutal attack by six men on a group bus has sparked anger and demands for tougher penalties for rapists. political leaders have been criticized for failing to act quicker. they have been speaking up. our correspondent in dehli. >> it's a story that shocked everyone. it's a story that brought many indians out on the street, and a story which from the very first day appears to have caught most of the country's politicians, certainly its government flat-footed. we've had several days of protest, people out on the streets, not just calling for justice in this one incident. this young 23-year-old medical student gang raped and beaten so brutally she's fighting for her life now in a hospital in singapore. but in succeeding days, calling attention to laws that should

protect women but not be implemented. police officials not registering or recording truer reports of rapes. all this mounting pressure on the government. now we've started seing a bit of a response from politicians acknowledging the public mood, trying to set things right. this, france, is what the president of the governing congress party had to say. >> our thoughts are with the young woman who is fighting for her life after this attack. and our wish today is that she recovers and that she --

>> those are of sympathy. but also talk of new legislation. is that what people think are needed, or just currently putting the proper laws that exist into practice. >> i think a lot of effort is focused on trying to insure that the laws that do exist are exercised by people. the police forces and the courts. the biggest reform measure of the government's picking up on the back of these protests is the fact that they're trying to now make sure that rape cases are tried in fast track courts. india's judicial center is flawed and what tends to happen is a lot of women who are victims of rape simply stop testifying because, you know, they just want to forget the incident on move on with their life. or their fear of retribution and intimidation. it's not unknown for people accused of rape to get away

completely in the last year france, there's only been one conviction of rape. that's something they're trying to change. >> china has tightened its already strict controls on the internet. under the new measure, they can stop the transmission of any transmission deemed i legal. internet users are going to be required to register their real names when they sign up with network providers. chinese bloggers have exposed a number of corruption scandals involving government officials in recent years and that's despite already tight the 6-year-old girl who was abducted by her father and taken to pakistan is now on her way home to britain three years after she disappeared. she went missing after going to stay with her father, who then told her mother she would never see her again. it's believed that the dramatic discovery was due to a computer

generated image of what she would look like now. that's the image. here's the report. >> the last time her mother saw her. for the last three years, she's had no proof that her daughter is still alive until now. the child's father took her out of the country and out of her mother's life. >> he left me a message to say i would never see her again. basically a text message. >> they vanished in 2009, a day before her third birthday. her father took her to pakistan, returned without her and was later arrested. her mother recently appealed for more information. and they revealed that she is flying home. police published this picture in november in the way the 16-year-old might look now. they say she has a difficult

transition to make. >> clearly, when she went at the age of 3, she would have remembered her mother in pack stage, she would have had the huge cultural difference. and now the reverse as well. she's been in pakistan for three years. we don't know whether she speaks english, how much of her mother she remembers. >> her mother had appealed directly to pakistan for her help. >> the child's life that she deserves, that she should have. a life of not knowing who people are. she deserves to be loved. >> the police have now confirmed that they're on the flight from pakistan and will be her mother in manchester this evening. >> now, president obama's been calling together key congressional leaders to come up with a deal to avoid a budget

crisis at the good old fiscal cliff and tell us how they're going to get out of this, or not. >> i wouldn't be sitting here if i knew. i think there are a great deal of overlapping of what is required. the prb is it's not enough overlap. this fiscal cliff was last in august of 2011. it has to do with the debt ceiling. it so happens the debt ceiling will be reached on december 31, or will it? because it appears the treasury said we found a bit of extra money so maybe we can keep things going a bit longer. and it won't cause the crisis immediately, and if these tax rises and spending cuts came into effect, they could be repeeled during january. but if they weren't, the momentum that has been very

painstaking pumped into the economy could be devastating. >> this morning you see stock markets in asia and europe up a bit. i think their expectation that washington will come to an agreement, i think that might be too early. i think this is still a very clear possibility that they could allow the deadline to pass and resolve this sometime in the middle of january. >> well, any red lution would be welcome. the cost as well, but these spending cuts and the tax rises effectively, the end of the tax concession, that's automatic. >> that is automatic yes but there is question where the money can be found if you like to plug the gap. they wouldn't have much impact for a while. but ultimately they would. and the difficulty is not necessarily the fact that the deadline, this deadline, which is some extent of official anyway would be overrun. it's more the uncertainty associated with it.

how can you plan if you don't know what the tax rate will be? >> here in europe, one of the banks that caused a huge flurry at the time of its impact -- >> this could be a laymen of europe. we've had the euro in crisis which was sparked by soveren debt, which then destabilized debt. that had much more to do with property debt. this was a bank that was struggling because it was funded with short terms, not with deposits. it was the largest lender, it was huge. recognition if this bank was allowed to lick quick date, you would have the lehman style of effect. but the amount of money and care that has been taken in order to stop it from happening is immense. there has been something like 50 billion worth of you'reoes pumped into the bank. parts of the bank have been sold

off. one which went to china,, so hopefully problem solved. >> we hall see. tanya, thanks for the explanation. thank you for watching "bbc world news." we've got a lot more to come, including, well it's odd isn't it? nowhere for muslims of athens to pray. why the greek capitol still doesn't have a mosque. at least six people have been killed by a tropical storm in philippines. that was just weeks after a typhoon hit the country leaving more than a thousand people dead. torrential rain and flooding continued to hit the area the charity reports. >> another devastating tropical storm in the philippines just weeks after a deadly typhoon killed over a thousand people in the south.

residents of the central eye lands are grappling with heavy rain and flooding. in another pro vens, where the tropical storm hits, doesn't remain stranded at the ferry terminal. power lines damaged. the local residents are distraught. >> oh god, please don't overwhelm us, it's one typhoon after another. one typhoon had just passed and now there's another one coming. the philippines is hit by several typhoons each year. self of -- several hundreds of thousands of people were misplaced. they have been severely damaged. officials say most people were better prepared ahead of tropical storm. but with overflowing rivers and flooded houses, villages in the

area are overwhelmed. for now, the focus is to get to dry land. taking whatever few belongings they can carry with them. serena cloudy, "bbc news." >> got a picture for you here of the sole female cabinet member in iran, until recently because the iranian president has just dismissed the health minister and she had criticized the central bank for failing to provide funds to important vital . so she's gone. you're watching "bbc world news." these are the headlines. putin carries out his threat, the russian president signs the bill which bans americans from adopting russian children. while the condition of the indian gang rape victim deteriorates, the politicians look to restore order and offer support.

moscow says it's urging the government in damascus to talk to the opposition about solving the syrian conflicts. russia stepped its efforts to end the crisis in the last few days. talks have been held with egypt's foreign minister and that came after talks with on thursday. the national alliance has rejected his comments as foreign interference. james reynolds told us about russia's role. >> russia is certainly heavily involved. i think to some mediators in particular, the international envoy, that will be a good sign. because if there is to be a diplomatic solution to more than 20 months in syria, essentially that solution will have to go through moscow, because moscow is the most important international a lie of him. so in that way, some will see this as a good sign. but, let's not get carried away,

of course. it's one thing for moscow to hold talks. it is another thing entirely for people to agree and it is something else entirely for agreements to be implemented. >> presumely, if your president assad and you're hearing russian comments about the once we've added the last 24 hours you must be of a feeling that you've lost the one major international, let's call them a lie that you thought they had. >> i think when he thinks the most important supporters, president putin is the number one, very clearly to hear of his government, saying they would like to talk to the syrian government. i think that will make him slightly uneasy. but let's not get too carried away. russia has spoken to the opposition before it did so in july, those talks were not necessarily very good. so, just because they're talking doesn't necessarily mean that they're agreeing. >> now, in the last few days we've shown you a lot of pictures like this, but at least 15 people are now reported to

have died in the severe winter storms in the u.s. blizzards have caused power cuts and southern and midwestern states, hundreds of flights have been canceled as well. >> the united states is used to bad winter weather, but when it's this deep, there's only one thing to do. break out the shovel and get digging. this is syracuse in new york state. but extreme weather has brought disruption right across the country. tornadoes were starked in texas, louisiana, alabama and mississippi. 200,000 people were left without power and emergencies have been declared in two states. >> we had a most unfortunate event. storm, tornado storm, pretty much ravaged a lot of our business community and

residential community. >> most of those who died were involved in road accidents. the falling trees also killed some. now the storms moved on and although it's starting to peter out it still has the potential to bring more misery to people in new york, new hampshire, pennsylvania and maine. the u.s. shouldn't pack their shovels away just yet. as it moves off, another storm is brewing making its way over the east coast this weekend, bringing more fierce weather, which means yet more disruption for travelers and businesses over the new year period. >> smoking just 15 cigarettes, not even every day, but ever, can cause cells to mutate and lead to cancer. that is the message by a hard anti-smoking campaign being launched here in britain.

>> when you smoke, the chemicals you inhale cause mutations in your body. and mutations are how cancer starts. >> this television ad is designed to show every cigarette is harmful. it's aimed at those who think the dangers of smoking are exaggerated. >> we want to catch all smokers, but particularly the young who won't have seen hard-hitting campaigns before because they don't understand what damage is happening in their body. what their risks are. >> around one in five people over the age of 16 are smokers in england. now last year, more than 800,000 people accessed services like this in order to try to get up. after four weeks, half of them had succeeded, but half of them had failed. giving up smoking can be a real challenge. but stop smoking services do have their successes. 10 months ago paul cane did manage to give up after smoking

for 32 years. >> it's such an achievement. >> you think that's it? you're done? doctors say half of all smokers die from smoking-related diseases. this latest campaign will be judged on how many people can be persuaded to stop for good. >> the american military commander perhaps most closely associated with the first gulf war norman schwartz coff has died today. he led troops more for than 30 countries back in 1991. here's nick charles. >> when you looked at the troop numbers, they really outnumbered us about three to the. >> his nickname, storming norman, and the bear, reflected his size and temperment. he was the man chosen to lead the vast u.s. coalition of more

than 30 countries in what became as operation desert storm. his news conferences were a feature of the campaign. >> a great american ambassador, a great american. we love you. we love you, general! >> despite his fiery personality, he was smarter and more diplomatic than many critics gave him credit for. he was also a public supporter of the republican party in the united states. his military success after a 43 year air campaign and sweeping ground offensive that lasted just 100 hours made him one of america's most famous modern generals. and more claims and successes who were involved in messier campaigns. he was himself the son of an army general, was a decorated vietnam veteran and commanded u.s. ground forces in the 1983. he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, was treated then

campaigned to raise awareness of the disease. >> that's nick charles reporting there on stormen norman who died at age 78. this year has seen the arrival of a whole wave of films which are geared towards older audiences, one. films with older characters have been doing well around the world, especially in britain and the u.s., as tom brook reports from new york. >> it's a trend, old people in movies. next month there's a film called "quartet" set in a retirement home starring several british actors. meryl streep and tommy lee jones both succeeded in "hope springs" in what's being called a mid life romantic comedy. then, there was the best exotic mari gs gold hotel.

it's been very profitable. the cost is $10 million to make and it's taken many more than $130 million around the world. the film was seen as unusual because of its many older characters. >> all these people of a certain age, and a new experience. >> this wave of films with older people is being welcomed. >> everything is geared towards youth, and to see people my age makes me feel good in film. like we're not forgotten. >> liam neeson flourishing most recently as an action star at the age of 60 maintains that the older people have been underserved by the hollywood people. >> they see this demographics and are making films for

15-year-olds up to 25-year-olds. and beyond 30 it's like well, forget about it. >> despite such things, the studio maintains that the older people do figure in their calculations. >> older audiences are avid movie goers, they grew up with that habit and they like to go to the theater. so yeah, they're an important part. >> the supply of movies catering to older people continue. partly because for movie going audience appears to be getting older. last year in the u.s., the number of teenagers going to the cinema declined. while admissions among older people increased. this may reflect the 78 million strong baby boom generation moving into retirement and having time to go more often. and films that are resonating with older audiences are winning awards.

just last week it made it on for best foreign language film, oscar. >> yep, turn the music down. i'm sure we'll see more of those films in 2013 as well. don't forget the website for much more. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newmans own foundation. and union bank. >> at union bank, our

relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture new ventures and help provide capital for key strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los presented by kcet, los angeles.